Berlin-via-Galway rock artist Ruth Mac has released her new single, Home from Home, ahead of her Ireland Music Week performance. We asked her the BIG questions . . .
Based in Berlin since 2019, she was inspired to write Home from Home after passing through Dublin en route back to Galway during a Christmas lockdown.
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"I was ambling around Dublin and was struck by a sense of disconnect," she says. "No one was around and all my favourite old hangouts had been replaced with sterile alternatives. It was the first time I felt like a stranger in the city where I spent my most formative years.
"The central feeling isn't one of anger towards Dublin for selling out, rather it’s me grappling with a certain loss and this sombre sense that the city had moved on and forgotten me. It’s the realization that the places that hold us change their shape too, we don’t always get to neatly slot back in."
She plays the Grand Social Ballroom for Ireland Music Week on Friday, 6 October and also headlines the Workman’s Cellar on Tuesday, 5 December. Tickets are available here.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
Dogs before cats. Rollerblade enthusiast. Textbook Aries.
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How would you describe your music?
I’d describe it as slacker rock/indie music. My big love of 70s folk-rock and soul pokes through, too.
Who are your musical inspirations?
So many! Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Sinéad O’Connor, Nina Simone, Angel Olsen, Arthur Russell, Courtney Barnett, Sylvan Esso, Big Thief, Shannon Shaw, Nico, Jay Som, TOPS, Joan Baez, Karen Dalton, Tom Waits . . .
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Mundy at the Burren College of Art. He dedicated July to me and my siblings cuz we were the only children there:’)
What was the first record you ever bought?
I bought my first Walkman and Hybrid Theory (Linkin Park) AND Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers) on the same day. Good day.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Big Dreams by Rachael Lavelle. Heart-stoppingly beautiful.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"Guess I had to be losing to get here on time" - Angel Olsen.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably Thank You by Bonnie Raitt. I’m never not in the mood to listen to it.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Internet me and/or come to a show! I'm playing Ireland Music Week on Friday, 6 October.
Alan Corr
